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Three people have been charged with public order offences following a pro-Palestine protest outside Sir Keir Starmer’s family home.

Leonorah Ward, 21, from Leeds, Zosia Lewis, 23, of Newcastle upon Tyne and Daniel Formentin, 24, of Leeds, will appear before Westminster Magistrates Court today.

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They have been charged with section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 and for breaching court bail, the Metropolitan Police said.

A statement from the Met said: “The arrests were made on Tuesday 9 April under section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001.

“This power stops the harassment of a person at their home address if an officer suspects it is causing alarm or distress to the occupant.”

What happened at protest?

A group of campaigners arrived at the Labour leader’s house in north London on Tuesday to call on him to support an arms embargo on Israel.

A banner was hung outside his house that apparently read: “Starmer stop the killing”, surrounded by red hand prints.

The protest was condemned by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said that “no MP should be harassed at their own home”.

Home Secretary James Cleverly also said that the protest was “unacceptable”, posting on X that “there is no excuse for harassing and intimidating politicians and their families in their homes”.

Mr Sunak’s home in north Yorkshire was targeted last year by climate protesters.

There are fears the tactic will be increasingly used ahead of the general election, expected later this year.

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood, whose home was targeted by pro-Palestine protesters earlier this year, has suggested new laws could be introduced to protect politicians in the same way legislation is being brought forward to ban people from climbing on statues.

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Row over legal advice and arms sales continues

The government has faced increasing pressure to suspend arms export licences to Israel after seven aid workers, including three British nationals, were killed by an Israeli airstrike last week.

Many MPs have also called on ministers to publish legal advice it has received on whether Israel is violating international law in Gaza, where over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Hamas attacks on 7 October, which killed around 1,200 people in Israel.

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Sir Keir has reiterated calls for the government to publish the advice, with the party’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy stating arms sales should be halted if there has been a “serious breach” of international law.

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Why Boris’s best mate is off to Reform

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Why Boris's best mate is off to Reform

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈       

Former Conservative chairman and friend of Boris Johnson – Sir Jake Berry – is defecting to Reform UK, causing more problems for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

On today’s episode, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy discuss if his defection will divide parts of Reform policy.

Elsewhere, the Anglo-French summit gets under way, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hoping to announce a migration deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to deter small boat crossings.

Plus, chatter around Whitehall that No10 are considering a pre-summer reshuffle, but will it have any value?

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Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

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Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

The trial is part of Project Acacia, an initiative from the RBA exploring how digital money and tokenization could support financial markets in Australia.

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Starmer and Macron agree need for ‘new deterrent’ to stop small boat crossings

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Starmer and Macron agree need for 'new deterrent' to stop small boat crossings

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have agreed the need for a “new deterrent” to deter small boats crossings in the Channel, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister met Mr Macron this afternoon as part of the French president’s state visit to the UK, which began on Tuesday.

High up the agenda for the two leaders is the need to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel, which Mr Macron said yesterday was a “burden” for both the UK and France.

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The small boats crisis is a pressing issue for the prime minister, given that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year – a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024.

Sir Keir is hoping he can reach a deal for a one-in one-out return treaty with France, ahead of the UK-France summit on Thursday, which will involve ministerial teams from both nations.

The deal would see those crossing the Channel illegally sent back to France in exchange for Britain taking in any asylum seeker with a family connection in the UK.

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However, it is understood the deal is still in the balance, with some EU countries unhappy about France and the UK agreeing on a bilateral deal.

French newspaper Le Monde reports that up to 50 small boat migrants could be sent back to France each week, starting from August, as part of an agreement between Sir Keir and Mr Macron.

A statement from Downing Street said: “The prime minister met the French President Emmanuel Macron in Downing Street this afternoon.

“They reflected on the state visit of the president so far, agreeing that it had been an important representation of the deep ties between our two countries.

“Moving on to discuss joint working, they shared their desire to deepen our partnership further – from joint leadership in support of Ukraine to strengthening our defence collaboration and increasing bilateral trade and investment.”

It added: “The leaders agreed tackling the threat of irregular migration and small boat crossings is a shared priority that requires shared solutions.

“The prime minister spoke of his government’s toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats.

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“The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs.”

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, seized on the statement to criticise Labour for scrapping the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan, which the Tories claim would have sent asylum seekers “entering the UK illegally” to Rwanda.

He said in an online post: “We had a deterrent ready to go, where every single illegal immigrant arriving over the Channel would be sent to Rwanda.

“But Starmer cancelled this before it had a chance to start.

“Now, a year later, he’s realised he made a massive mistake. That’s why numbers have surged and this year so far has been the worst in history for illegal channel crossings.

“Starmer is weak and incompetent and he’s lost control of our borders.”

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